The Washington critic., 1887-12-20
THE WORKING GIRL.
Her Cheerful Courage Under Adverse
circumstances.

II is not easy, says the Scranton
Truth to find more cheerful picture
than the bright eyed, alert, intelligent
working girls one meets on sidewalk or
In street car these chill, murky morn
ings, hurrying to their various avoca-
tions In store or factory, or wherever cm-
ploymcnt awaits them, to keep hand and
brain busy during the day. AZ an hour
when the fair head of the average fash-
ionable beauty is still chained to her
pillow by sleep and languor, the results
of late hours and social pleasures oft
repeated, the wide awake working girl
'is astir, preparing to Join the great army
of toilers that fill the day with the fruits
of labor.
The working girl is n wholesome study
as she hurries to her tasks. The fierce
jcalousies that often burn their way
into the heart Of the fashionable world
have no pluce in her pure breast, and
there is no deceit in her smile.
Like Longfellow's "Vilage Black
smith," she Clocks the whole
world in the face" and an heiress
might envy the lustor which shines
through her candid eyes. What trying
tasks await her we know not; neither do
we know how weary she will be as she
returns home in the evening from
her toll in store or factory,
where brains and nerves and pa-
ticnce are often tried so hard; but
this we know, that the world is brighter
for her good morrow" and that there
is promise for the manhood of the future
in her clean heart and spotless life.
When we think of these things and of
the struggles that are so often woven
into the life of the working girl by the
aarince and greed of some employers,
who seem to think that women were born
to work hard for poor pay, we cannot
help wishing that there were more Justice
in the worlds workshops. We have
had great Inventors In the world who
have bridled tha forces Of nature and
made them subsc.Sicnt to the touch OF
n child, but no Inventor has yet ap-
peared above the horizon with any ade-
quate discovery TO compel harsh and
money grabbing employers to
do Justice to the working girls.
Wherever we find them well treated it
is the result of kindness on the part of
those they work for, but good treatment
ought to be theirs by right, and their
lives ought not TO be bruised by injus-
tice, no matter who may employ them,
"A paltry advance In the things their
nimble fingers fabricate or sell would af-
ford an opportunity for an advance in
their wages that would tighten their labor
and gladden. their lives. Fair compensa-
ton for man or woman is the greatest
stimulus to energy and industry, even as
encouragement is often inspiration,
and those who amass great wealth out OF
enterprises in which they pay poor
wages, would be much happier If they
could enterinto the spirit Of kindness
which diffuses happiness, and thinl,
more of the people who work for them
and less for their millions.
If there were less greed in the world
on the part of the powerful, there would
be less misery and discomfort among
the poor. Meanwhile our best wishe!
go out to the working girl, whose
bright eye and elastic step, whose cheer
full spirit and hopeful life make one o.
the happiest pictures of the morning
and the wcnder is, all things considered
that the sun does not rise an hour earlier
even in the month Of bleak December
to take good look at her as she hasten!
to her daily task.